14 Broad Street, Oxford

No. 14: Kiltane Fine Woollens & Tweeds

14 Broad Street in 2017

No. 14 probably dates from the mid-eighteenth century. It is a Grade II listed building (List Entry No. 1047345) and is owned by Oxford City Council. It is in St Michael-at-the-Northgate parish.

In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. No. 14 was then in the occupation of a Mr Parker, and its frontage measured 5 yards 0 feet 6 inches.

The 1841 census shows No. 14 occupied by John Harwood and his wife Marianne and his children Elizabeth (10), Thomas (9), Charles (5), and Maryanne (1). He was still here at the time of the 1851 census, described as a bootmaker employing two men. His unmarried daughter Elizabeth lived with him, and they had one servant.

By the time of the 1861 census his son John Harwood junior had taken over the business, and he was described as an employer of fifteen men and one woman. The 1871 census shows John Harwood junior living here with his daughter Elizabeth and one servant, and by the time of the 1881 census he had been joined in the business by his own two sons.

John Harwood junior died here at 14 Broad Street at the age of 78 on 3 September 1882. His executors advertised his furniture of sale in Jackson's Oxford Journal thirteen days later on 16 September, and Charles Harwood was living here in December 1883. By September 1888 he was running the boot & shoemaking business here while living at 81 Southmoor Road.

Boxall’s Court / Yard / Passage

Boxhall's Passage (sometimes spent Boxhall) used to run down the west side of this shop at 14 Broad Street, leading to six houses squeezed south of Broad Street and north of Ship Street. It was so named as in the 1840s and 1850s all of these houses were leased by Thomas Boxall. From about 1882 to 1902 it was often known as Harwood’s Passage, but then reverted to its older name.

At the time of the 1841 census the following people lived in the passage with their families: George Goddard (a college servant), John Bateman (a chandler), George Knibbs (a gardener), Thomas Piper (a tailor), and Elizabeth Talbot (a stay stitcher).

On 14 October 1882 Jackson's Oxford Journal advertised the forthcoming auction of five leasehold cottages in Boxall's Yard, to be sold by order of the Executors of the late John Harwood. as follows:

Lot 1.—FOUR LEASEHOLD COTTAGES, No.'s 2, 4, 5, and 6, Boxall's-yard, Broad-street. No. 2 contains sitting room, two bed rooms, and cellar: No.'s 4, 5, and 6, each contains sitting room and two bedrooms; there are two washhouses and two w.c.'s common to the four Cottages, and they are let to Messrs. J. Smith, W. Smith, Balling, and Salter, the whole producing a rental of £35 2s. per annum

Lot 2.—A LEASEHOLD COTTAGE, No.3, Boxall's-yard, Broad-street, containing three rooms, kitchen and cellar, with an enclosed yard; also use of w.c. in Lot 1. This Cottage is let to Mr. Simmonds at a Rental of £1 per annum.

On 15 December 1882 Oxford City Council granted a licence to Elizabeth Harwood and Charles Harwood (both of 14 Broad Street) and to Thomas Harwood ( a librarian of Observatory Street) to assign to William Baker

all that their little messuage or tenement situate in a yard that leadeth from a Passage called Boxhall Passage in Broad Street in the Parish of Saint Michael in the City of Oxford opposite Balliol College abutting on the East by premises in the occupation of John Harwood.... Also All that their piece of ground washhouse and offices lying before the said tenement abutting on the North by the tenements in lease to the said John Harwood and on the South and West by the back of premises in Ship Street All which premises are now in the occupation of Widow Symonds.

On 22 March 1899 Nos. 4, 5, & 6 Boxall's Yard were sold to Mr Alderman Cooper for a total of £33. Kelly's Directory that year lists the following occupants in Harwood's (Boxall's) Yard:

2. Castell & Son, tailors (workshop) [Castell's shop was adjacent at No. 13 to the west]
3. Thornton J. & Son, booksellers (store room) [Thornton's was at No. 11, the third shop to the west]
4. Jones, Admah David
5. Savage, Harry.

No one is listed as living in the six properties in the yard at the time of the 1901 census.

The passage was still in use in the late 1990s, when the Boxall Buildings were occupied by Hunts Printers.

By April 1889 the cabinet maker William Herman had his business here, and the 1891 census shows him at the age of 54, described as a cabinet maker, upholsterer, and undertaker, living here with his wife Elizabeth, their daughter Florence, and their servant. He was still shown living here with his wife and daughter in the 1901 census.

The advertisement below, from Alden’s Oxford Guide for 1906, shows Herman’s Stores here at No. 14. Note how the shop front has changed: the door used to be on the right.

Alden advert

W. Herman, 14 Broad Street

No one appears to have been living over the shop at the time of the 1911 census.

Alden & Co. Ltd, Stationers & Picture frame makers were here from 1915 to 1947:
photograph of their shop in 1936

Catherine Brown, who founded Brown's Café in the Covered Market in the early 1920s, lived at 14a at the time of the 1939 Register with her lodgers

Photograph of No. 14 Broad Street in c.1988 when it was the Brush & Compass

Occupants of 14 Broad Street listed in directories
1839, 1842	Boxall & Harwood Boot & Shoe Makers
1852–1889	John Harwood & Son Bootmakers
1889–1914	William Herman Cabinet maker, upholsterer, & undertaker (F. Herman in 1913/14)
1915–1947	Alden & Co. Ltd, Stationers & Picture frame makers
1949–1956	Art & Stationery Co. Ltd. Stationery, fountain pens, picture frame makers & artists’ materials
1958–c.1978	Hunts (Oxford) Ltd. Office Equipment 1958–1969 Typewriting Bureau 1972–1975 Typewriter dealers (from 1975)
c.1978–2006	Brush & Compass (also Hunts), Artist’s materials
2007–2008	Beautiful Strands Hair Salon
2008–2012	Western Computer
2013–2016	Aidan Meller Fine Paintings
2017–2018	East
2018–	Kiltane Fine Woollens & Tweeds